The National tribune., 1887-07-14
THE "BLOODY ANGLE"
The Awful Struggle at SpOttsylvanla-The Gal
Tree That Was Shot Down.


EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The question
"Who shot the tree down ?" will be answered
by one who saw the tree fall, and II IL had
fallen toward us instead of along the works,
the top of The tree would have brushed us. 1t
fell late in the afternoon, and not at night, as
some have reported.
Before j say any more about the tree, let me
give little Of my experience of that fight at
The Bloody Angle" / would like TO go back
10 the 10th and tell Of the storming party, led
by that noble Colonel, Emory Upton, of the
l2lst n. ", IN which my regiment lost 3l2,
killed, wounded and missing including 10 line
officers and our Colonel (lluling) and Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Miles, both killed. That was
sad night TO me. / had two brothers in the
regiment, one Of whom was wounded and the
other got lost in the woods, and / could get no
information as to what had belallen him until
ne&t morning. Then he turned up all right.
On the lltn we pitched our tents aud put in
the day cooking, eating and sleeping. lt was a
great treat 10 Us alter marching aud hghting
Tor five days aud nights c0nsecuhVely, most
of the Time subsisting on raw pork, bareback
and water. but our rest was OF short dura-
tion. In the evening there appeared 10 be a
great deal Of COmmOtiOn among the troops on
cur right, and in our corps (the Si-th) Order
lies were dashing around from place 20 place,
aud everything indicated another JOB" on
hand, We felt somewhat discouraged after
losing our dear old commander, Gen. scdgwlck
-" Uncle John" as we called HMM the
morning, and ia the evening gaining a victory
aud then losing IT, on account Of Motifs failure
10 come TO our support.
We lay around in the rain all night, and
early in the morning were on adouble-quick to
the lett 90 support Hancock, who had made an
assault on the rebel works at the Bloody Angle
Arriving there by o'clock, we found Han
cock men massed in six lines of battle. We
passed over them and in front, close up TO the
works. We kept on at righJ-face till we came
10 where there was lot of slashed timber.
There We halted aud came TO a front not over 20
yards from the angle where the White-oak tree
Stood. Before We had time TO shoot we received
terrific volley of musketry, which thinned
our ranks feariuily. John krider, in my 'front.'
Peter Miller, on my right aud George Beatty,
on my left, were ali killed by the first volley,
and had my clothes cut in three places.
We were then ordered TO lie down, and re-
manned in that position until after dark, firing
rs fast as we could load. except once when we
ran out of ammunition for an hour; but we made
good use OF the time by crawling around over
the battlefield and gathering up the cartridge
boxes of the dead and wounded aud supplying
our own. i fired 260 rounds that day, and to-
ward evening had great difficulty in getting
the balls down on account of the dirt and dust
that had accumulated inside by my gun getting
wei SO often during the day, Tor We had show
ers very frequently. The guns were so badly
used up that they were condemned afterward,
aud we drew new ones.
After firing ceased we were Withdrawn
short distance 10 the rear, and remained there
all night In the morning l took walk over
the battlefield, and when i beheld my CON-
rades lying there cold aud stiff ia death-and
some of them / loved as dearly as il is possible
for man 10 love mani wept almost wishing
IL had been INC instead of them. j then
crossed over the works, aud what a sight be-
held Men were strewed over the ground as
far as could see, in some places five deep. In
the breaches near where the tree stood was the
worst place. ] saw four men. one on top of an
other, and the one next 70 the ground was liv-
ing while the others were dead.
bad not previous 20 this time taken notice
OF the tree, but was under the impression that
the rebels had chopped it down, thinking that
il would fall toward US, aud thereby give them
some little protection and prevent us from hav-
ing such a lar view OF them. When my atten-
ton WAS called TO the tree, took my ramrod
and measured three spans, which is rs near Is
inches as can lie guessed at. Ii was, beyond a
doubt, cut down by our men; and not only that
one tree was cut down, tut scores of smaller
ones, even as far back MS 200 OF 800 yards from
the works.-B. Il. JOINS, Corporal, Co. A, 49th
Pa, Chambersburg, Pa